Two south Sacramento churches catch fire, arson suspect arrested, Fire Department says
The Sacramento Fire Department arrested a suspected arsonist after fires broke out overnight at two churches less than a mile apart in south Sacramento, authorities said Wednesday morning.
One firefighter suffered moderate burn injuries combating the latter fire, which reportedly ignited in the 4700 block of 16th Avenue shortly before 12:30 a.m., the Fire Department said in a tweet.
That fire, which took about 30 minutes to extinguish, was preceded by a smaller fire at a church in the 3900 block of 14th Avenue.
“An arrest has been made in connection to both incidents by arson investigators” with assistance from the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, the Fire Department said in a tweet.
The Fire Department identified the suspect Wednesday afternoon as Weun Luang Lee, 61. Lee faces two charges of arson of a structure and has additional charges pending, the department said in a news release.
The larger fire burned at the Central International Fellowship on 16th Avenue, and the smaller one was reported at St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church on 14th Avenue. Both are Baptist churches.
The incident at Central International Fellowship was a “well involved” structure fire, while the St. Paul Missionary fire was small in size but caused “severe water damage” due to sprinklers, the Fire Department news release said.
This story was originally published January 29, 2020 at 7:08 AM.
